Escaping from the past and building a future thataspires to forgetfulness is not something that can be easily done. Reorganisingthe way in which coexistence takes place in a neighbourhood by way of anintervention in the urban landscape is more complicated still, and thischallenge takes on even greater complexity when the instrument proposed toachieve it is a two-level, 6,690 m 2 underground car park that must occupy thecomplete surface of a gap in the urban fabric to be filled by a publicspace/square with a surface area of 5,575 m 2.

The setting for this project is a square; built in the60’s, occupying a space that was previously the site of a historic localfactory. The original square, however, was badly structured and uncongenial,with a layout that did not encourage people to take full advantage of it andwhich had become a space that was little more than residual and prejudicial tothe cohesion of the neighbourhood.

This intervention proposed a consideration of the carpark and the square as a single unit, integrating the one into the other,blurring the distinctions between them, and simultaneously allowing them,figuratively speaking, to breathe in their coexistence in the form of a squarethat was designed more as a gardened roof than as a fragment of an urban greenzone.

It has been possible to achieve this sensation throughthe design of a space that is organic and yet, at the same time, is endowedwith an intimate character, that can be broken down for and by usage whileoffering a unique and overall understanding.

The design of the parterres, based on as system oflightweight coffering, has allowed for the layout of extensive green areas,elements that are difficult to locate above a car park, and which confer on thesquare an original atmosphere that is notably more agreeable than the typicallocal paved squares.

Different areas and spaces have been created anddistributed around the overall site, laid out as if they were rooms in whichthe local people can engage in their activities as they best see fit. Theelimination of the old square, which served as a kind of barrier, has given riseto a permeable square that is expected, as time go by, to corroborate itsdetermination to act as a cohesive element.